Operation: Prank the Marauders
by Average Addict
Summary: Snape was lying on the clinic bed. Again. Another victim to the Marauder's endless pranks. Tired of them constantly picking on her friend, little-miss perfect Lily decides to pull her first prank. But it leads to trouble and detention with the ever famous James Potter. Lily gets help and starts planning the greatest prank in all of Hogwart's History. (Re-written)
1. The First Prank Well, Almost

**Operation: Prank the Marauders**

**The First Prank… Well, Almost**

Lily's breath echoed in the empty hallway.

Lily dashed for her room over at the Gryffindor's. Her beautiful rust colored hair silently glided down the hall. Excited, with a little twinkle in her shinning emerald eyes. She finally did it! She finally pulled a prank! (Her first in all her 5 very short years in Hogwarts)

Of course, it wouldn't be as grand as what the Marauders have done before. She couldn't be as witty as James Potter was when it came to planning their ingenious and infamous pranks. But what did she care? He was a stupid, arrogant, petty little prat. And she didn't want to ruin her image with the teachers especially when she was already getting to their good side.

Lily stopped for a minute, reconsidering. She didn't want to get caught now, not when she finally had the guts to do it. The sun was already breaking in the east and she was supposed to be in bed, but she dismissed the fluffy cradle that beckoned to her.

She had to get back at Black for blasting her best friend Snape with the knock-back jinx.

Lily sighed. No matter what she did, Severus was still an obvious target for bullying. With a pale and cold face, oily black hair, robes that he's worn since his first arrival to Hogwarts; it wasn't a surprise that the conceited Potter and friends thought that it was fun to pick on that Slytherin. Especially since Severus hung around Lily for the longest time. But this was the last straw, and Lily was running out of straws fast.

She couldn't stand the smirk on Potter's know-it-all face. Ever since she met him he's been the egoistic, handsome, troublesome leader of the Marauders. Hold on. _Handsome? How did that get into the description?_ Lily wondered, annoyed. She was convinced he was a curse on the Gryffindor house. Continuously rewarding us with deduction of House Points nonstop, 24/7. But her friends would have said otherwise.

"_We're talking about James Potter. THE James Potter!" a couple of squealing high-pitched girls swarmed her from all sides, having that same silly star struck look that every girl in this school seem to have on their faces._

_Lily rolled her eyes. Why were girls so noisy so early in the morning? _

_"I wouldn't care if he was the queen of England, the answer would still be no." She snapped at them. "He's the captain of the Quidditch team and the best Chaser there ever is!" One screaming girl declared. "And ever will be!" Her friends agreed, their squeals inflating Potter's already inflated head._

She didn't care what they said she still hated him.

Why? She had her reasons.

Take number one for example: Ever since Potter had met her, he's been constantly stalking Lily non-stop, being the same annoying and arrogant prat all day long. Showing of the Snitch he "borrowed" from Madame Hooch's office. And to think Lily ever thought he was a decent man.

Number two: Black kept wreaking havoc along with his friend Potter. Always strutting the halls as if he owned them. They seemed like a deadly duo. And they were.

Number three: The number of house points they've deducted from us was a little over a million combined from their first year as Wizards. And counting. The only thing that saved them was Lily's constant help to the professors, to the new first years that arrive and so on.

Number four: Those not-so-secret code names they make up for each other, is so stupid! Would it kill them to call each other James or Sirius once in a while? And what's with their impeccable timing? Lily thought sarcastically. They always know when poor Severus would go right underneath their slime traps and stink bombs.

It took a whole week before Severus finally got the smell of rotten eggs and sour milk out of his clothes, even now Lily could still imagine the smell mixing in with several others. The thought nearly made Lily barf. But not as much as the thought of Potter and his 'gang'.

The list could go on and on and circle the entire Hogwarts academy twice.

So in a nutshell, Lily doesn't like the Marauders one bit. Peter is a mess and a clutter. Black is so annoying to the point of no return. And Potter was the end of the world.

Remus, on the other hand, was a good friend of Lily's. He was kind and composed, very much unlike his friends. Lily could never figure out why he even chose to hang around them. They were trouble-making idiots. Remus on the other hand, was very nice to Lily and constantly apologizes for their mischief. In fact if it weren't for him, Lily would have turned them to frogs right then.

But back to the prank. She turned back to the Defense of the Dark Arts classroom and regretted it almost immediately.

Lily quietly entered the room. She hurried off to grab the piece of parchment she set for Black to read. It was perfect! Black would hold the paper and a sign saying pinch me would float around him all day. Lily tried not to grin at the thought of Black's pleading expression begging her to take it off, and failed.

_Oh my. Is this what pranking does to you? _Lily caught herself and shook her head. It was now or never! What did Lily have to loose? _Chances of being Head Girl... And Prefect._

Lily sighed and pulled out her wand. She had begun saying a spell to break the charm. But before she could shove the parchment in her robes, she heard a faint tap-tap of shoes out the door.

The redheaded witch hid behind the desks and held her breath, not daring to make a sound. _Please walk away! Please Walk away!_ She willed the noise to move away, but it just came closer. Closer and closer until it stopped in front of the big wooden doors. She saw a faint glow of a wand from the crack of the door.

_There goes 50+ house points._ Lily thought sadly.

"Evans! What a surprise!" A cheeky grin of her worst nightmares burst through the doors at 2 in the morning.

**Author's Note**

**Sorry for being on hiatus for such a looong time. I was having … a really really bad writer's block. Well I had a tough school year and the summer has really been great to take my mind off a ton of things. **

**Now I'm back and redoing everything! I hope you stick with me to the very end ;)**


	2. Wars, Potter and Detention

**Operation: Prank the Marauders**

**Wars, Potter and Detention**

Lily woke up at 6 in the morning with a massive headache.

She looked around and scanned her surroundings.

Her brain subconsciously acknowledged the gold and red decorated bedroom. She heard four other snores on the beds next to her's. The faint smell of hot chocolate filled the room made Lily's stomach rumble. She also noticed the mess her best friend made on her side of the room. Lily mentally noted that she had to tell Prim to get Lily's side cleaned up before lunch.

Despite the beautiful day out and the slight chill of November early in the year, Lily was in a rotten mood.

She crept out of bed with a huge effort and headed straight into the shower. Usually she'd to wait forever for Annie to get her makeup done before she got her turn.

Lily always woke up earlier than her friends so she could mail her letters to mom and dad. Though today, she doubt that she would get to send any letters to them.

After a quick and cold shower, she dressed in her robes and began untangling the messy wet clumps of her rust colored hair.

Lily was a simple Muggle girl who enjoyed the simple little things in her life. She loved the smell of coffee in the morning, the fire that burned in the hearth at night, even the soft howls of Peeves at the dead of the night made her smile with delight.

The only thing that she hated so much in this world, (Magical and Muggle) was Wars and Potter. The very words would either send a chill of discomfort or a blaze of anger running through her blood.

Wars and Potter. And now that she thought about it….. Detention.

And today she woke up with the worse feeling in the world. _"Detention with Potter!" _she could hear the terrifying words come out Professor Maggie's mouth. Lily shuddered and felt her eyes tearing up.

She sat in front of her mirror and absentmindedly brushed her hair.

Girls in her year would often charm their brushes to comb their own hairs and mascara to follow them around like a magnet in-between and during classes. But since Lily was muggle-born, she wasn't used to relying on magic for every single thing she did.

Quarter to six and she was down at the Great Hall to await her punishment.

Lily sighed as she pushed open the doors, trying get the crystal clear memory of last night to fade away.

_"_Evans, congratulations!" Potter strutted over, his very presence in the room filled with his over-confident and cocky aura. It made Lily want to hurl. "You've finally managed to get our of bed past curfew!" Potter put his arm around Lily as if he and Lily were nothing less than an item.

"Oh! What a surprise! Little-miss-Perfect Lily Evans alone in a classroom at 3 in the morning! How delightful!" Black was walking happily towards Lily who held her hands and gave a little kiss.

Potter was glaring at him, looking annoyed, only for a millisecond. Smooth Potter thought Lily hadn't seen, but she did. She felt the edges of her lips curve into the slightest smile, which she instantly regretted,

"Ah! The little flower smiled! We should write that down as our latest achievement-eh Mr. Wormtail?" Black looked over to Peter who walked in nervously. "Ye-Yeah Padfoot." The extremely chubby Peter Pettigrew chattered anxiously.

"Now what were you doing in here Evans? A prank?" Black snatched the parchment perched on his usual desk. Lily cursed silently, she forgot to burn the parchment. _This is bad. _Lily thought. _They have proof._

Lily could feel a drop of sweat running through her back, even though it was so cold that night. She stood debating her next move as Wormtail tried to peek over Potter's shoulder to the parchment. Black barked a laugh that sounded like a dog, "You call this a prank, Evans? I could do better in my sleep!" Potter slapped the back of Black's head. "Come now Padfoot, it's her first prank after all. Isn't that right Evans?" Potter flashed that winning smile at Lily, which only made her angrier.

"Now look here Potter!" Lily was just about tired of him thinking he was better that everyone. Just because he was such a good-looking and arrogant chaser he thinks he can get any girl he picks out. Lily was ready to let it all out, but like always… "Just because it's-"

"James! Sirius! Peter! Isn't it a bit late to have a midnight snack?" Lily heard Remus' voice coming closer until Lily saw the slightly sleepy looking Remus emerge from the hallway. Lily sighed and gave up, suddenly feeling as tired as Remus looked.

"Oh Moony! How kind of you to grace us with your presence!" Potter flashed a smile to the tired looking Moony. "Ah! Ah! Ah Moony. It's never too late for a midnight snack." Sirius thought about it for a while and said, "Or too early rather."

He thought again. "Well maybe it's just that since it's already 3 in the morning it would mean that it's already November of the following day, isn't that right Prongsie?" Black crossed his arms and looked over to Potter. "No, no Padfoot. Shouldn't it still be yesterday. I don't know about you, but I don't consider it tomorrow until I get up from bed."

Prongs and Padfoot began a long rant about how annoying it is to wake up when the clock hasn't even reached noon yet. Wormtail's eyes were shinning with adoration and his head shaking like it was about to fall off any minute. The three idiots seemed to forget Lily was even there, looking paler and paler by the minute.

She stood there as still as a rock. _If I leave now, nobody could ever have any proof that I was with these clowns_. She thought quickly and began silently inching for the door.

"Lily, I am terribly sorry that you had to run into them." Remus stopped her just as she was heading out. "Umm, it's quite alright Remus. Just please be sure to tell no one. And I mean NO ONE. And I shall be heading back first." Lily smiled at Remus, at the back of her mind her soul almost left her body.

"Just a minute here Evans!" Potter blocked her way to the door. "Just a few more minutes!" Black smiled at Lily, touching her shoulder. "How 'bout an early morning snack?" Potter grinned and pulled out an old piece of parchment.

"Are we going to the kitchen now James?" Peter asked him, his eyes smiling with the thought of food. "No we're not!" Remus stubbornly told him. "We have to get back into the Gryffindor rooms before Professor McGonagall catches us!" He told them, his voice low and pleading. "Oh lighten up Moony!" Black had his arms around Remus and smiled.

Lily was in a tight situation. She was surrounded. Marauders surrounding her from all sides. Her head felt dizzy: she hated tight spots.

" Marauders, let's get going!" Grinning, he pulled out his wand and tapped the parchment. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Lily almost collapsed on the floor right then.

She saw lines and drawings moving up and down the parchment. Red and black ink slowly appeared and moved around the picture. She knew that she shouldn't be too surprised. This was Hogwarts after all. Pictures moved and talked, but what finished her off was her name in the middle.

Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail; and Lily.

"Is that me?" she asked inching closer to the parchment, pointing to the word Lily. Potter's cheeks warmed slightly as Lily stepped closer to Potter. Enough to smell her lavender soap, luckily it was dark out and nobody could see his pink cheeks.

"Yes Evans. That would be you." Black leaned on Potter's shoulder, grinning like a mad man. "We use this to navigate around the halls at night. We see everyone and everything and what they're doing. Anytime and anywhere." Peter prattled excitedly. "I don't think you should be revealing anything to the outsiders." Black told Peter, tsking sadly.

Suddenly it became clear how they didn't get caught so easily at night or at daytime. That is unless they were in public. All those pranks and food they steal for their midnight parties at the common room, all the strange noises she heard at 12 am….. Was them?

"So you use this everyday?" she asked them a look of disbelief on her face, mixed with a strange hint of awe. Potter blushed brighter, aware of her sudden interest. "That's right! It's just brilliant isn't it! We're the only ones who can use it! It's guarded by spells only the four of us can break. And you know who thought of making this? Me! That's right James Potter!" Lily suddenly felt another vein throbbing at the mention of Potter's own name.

"There's none like it anywhere in the world! I made it myself." Potter beamed proudly.

"Shhh!" Remus put a finger to his lips. Lily held her breath. "Professor McGonagll!" he whispered furiously.

Potter whispered a spell and pat the parchment. "Mischief managed." Remus headed over to a sort of chamber Lily hadn't noticed before. It was big enough for someone as fat as Peter to go through. He motioned to the small square chamber. In the faint moon light, she could see it was a dried our pipeline.

Peter scurried inside, followed by Black and Remus. She could hear the nearing footsteps of Professor McGonagall. Lily's headache just got worse.

She panicked and knocked over a vial of sorts. A deadly crash hit the floor and glass scattered below her.

"Who's there?" She could hear Professor's voice. "Answer me at once." She demanded. Cold sweat streamed down Lily's cheeks. "Come out right now." She could hear her fast paced steps and dim light approaching the door.

"Evans! Hurry now!" Lily only half heard Potter's arrogant voice. Petrified, she forgot what she was doing at the moment. "Evans! Hurry!" Potter stepped out of the pipe and grabbed Lily's shoulders.

She felt his strong and big hands grab her shoulders and lead her to their escape. Only a minute too late.

The silver wand light glowed on Potter and Lily like criminals thieving in the night. "Potter! Evans! To my office at once!" Professor McGonagall's red and round cheeks glowed in the dark. And Lily cried.

**Author's Note**

**Thank you for reviewing my story!**

**Less than three**

**Yours truly,**

**A. Addict (Hey! That rhymes ;))**

***Don't forget review :D**


	3. My Dear Lily

**Operation: Prank the Marauders**

**My dear Lily**

Lily opened the door to the great hall and was greeted by a complete disaster.

Enchanted brooms and magic mops were running around trying to tame the wild mess, without much success. _(A/N: omg that rhymes :)) Haha sorry I couldn't resist._

James Potter tried to keep the giant squid from thrashing the Great Hall, hexing it with several jinxes. None of which seemed to work, everything was in a strange mess of water and fire and broken pieces of wood.

Potter fired another round of spells all of which rebounded and bounced around the room making an even bigger mess than a few seconds ago. Some rumors have been going around that the giant squid has impenetrable skin and it serves as an armor against magic spells.

In the midst of the chaos, James noticed Lily standing stiffly by the door. "Ah! Welcome Ms. Lily Evans. Care to join me and my friend, the Giant Squid of Black Lake, for an early morning cup of tea?" He grinned madly, slime covering his hair.

Lily stood there. Weighing her options. Go inside, battle the Giant Squid and likely get blamed for it afterwards. Or….. walk away and pretend you didn't see anything at all. Lily chose the latter.

She quickly turned around but James grabbed her hand before she could get through the doors. "You're just in time for the party! Me and my friends over here were expecting you." He gave her one of his winning smiles. Lily sighed.

The poor Squid thrashed about like a fish out of water (Which, if you think about it, is what he is), and hit a broom and sent it up, up away to the enchanted ceiling.

James noticed Lily's shock, and tried explaining. "Oh well, you see I was in the mood for sushi and-" Lily held up a hand to say she didn't want to hear it. "How do you plan on getting it out." She asked him sternly. With a tone of voice she's seen Professor McGonagall use when she tried to talk to get Peter Pettigrew to tell her where Johnny Mcbean's toad was. It seemed very efficient. (Lily would have to thank Professor later)

James stood up straight and began reporting. "Well the brooms and mops have been enchanted to get ready for the day, since you know. Early birds.. I was in a mood for some sushi, but the tables weren't quite ready. Well I'm not going to bore you on the details but to cut the long story short." He talked fast. Feeling Lily's penetrating eyes search him deeper and deeper.

"I poofed this giant fish up. He hit a few candles and mops, sprayed a bunch of water and he now he sort of wants to go back to his lake." James breathed heavily like if he just ran a 5-mile marathon.

Lily rolled up her sleeves and sighed. James stared at her as if he'd just found a strange new animal in an odd new land. "Well don't just stand there like a statue, Potter. Get over here and fix this mess!" Lily's voice woke James up. He hurried over to her, a wand in hand.

Lily had begun dousing the fires. A shaky broom a burning tail fell with a clank beside Lily. Reciting a new restoring spell she had just read, Lily waved her wand and spoke the spell with authority. The four long tables had begun repairing themselves and the brooms sprang back to life.

James stood beside Lily and grinning like it was just an ordinary day with no detention and no giant and impenetrable squid in front of them. "This is fun eh, Evans?" "I don't even know why I bother." Lily sighed again. _This is not a very good routine is it?_ She asked herself.

Quarter to eight and they'd made no progress. And the squid just squirmed all the more. Lily had tried lifting the squid with the Wingardium Leviosa, but the squid was too slimy Lily had such a hard time getting a firm hold on it.

Potter actually tried lifting the squid but Lily thought it just made the squid all the more uncomfortable.

Lily panted and collapsed on the spot. "I can't take this! I've tried every spell I know! This squid is just so.. so.. impenetrable!" She wailed.

"It's like he has some sort of magical coat on him! Why can't our spells work on him!" Lily looked like she was ready to rip her hair out, instead she poked the squid on his sides. If Lily wasn't feeling so horrid right now, she would've sworn she saw the squid crying.

She got up and walked over to the squid. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault you're here in this mess." She stroked a gentle hand across the squids. Lily shot an accusing glare at James. The boy in question could feel his cheeks heating up. Just as he was about to protest that it wasn't all his fault, his two worst nightmares just walked through those doors.

"Professor Gritish!" Lily stood up and tried brushing some squid grime off her robes, but just ended up in a bigger mess. Potter had to smile on that one.

Most girls he met would cast a spell to clean their clothes or do their make up. He's even seen their quills write their own essays. They'd enchant their hairbrushes to comb their hairs during classes and do whatever they'd want with magic.

But whenever he sees Lily, she brushes her own hair, does her own homework and does things so abnormally. (Of course for them it may seem abnormal, but that's them. Wizards.) She sometimes forgets she even has magic, I guess that was why Potter had to remind her: She was part of their world now.

And poor Evans afraid of heights. She couldn't even ride a broom properly. Which reminded James that he needed to teach her how to fly soon.

Some other kids thought she was weird. She was. But she was cute and in a way, it charmed him. When she stood there, trying to rub off the squid drippings he almost forgot he probably looked the same way.

"Lily, why are you dressed like that?" Professor Gritish walked over, accompanied by Professor McGonagall and Filch, the nasty and spiteful caretaker of Hogwarts. Both slime covered students barely registered the stern look and lecture Professor McGonagall was telling them right then.

"Umm," Lily squirmed in her robes, blushing a bit. James felt his insides flaring up.

James knew that (next to him) all the girls squealed whenever their favorite Charms teacher walked past them. And Lily was (Surprisingly) one of those squealing girls. Just not the ones that squealed for James. He didn't understand why they even fall for that git Gritish. He was just an overly pretty, pretty boy who snuck in love potions into the food of the girls during dinner.

James had tried to warm Evans about him, only she shrugged him off and told him he was demented and crazy. True and true, he told her. But he knew the signs of someone who recently took a love potion and Lily looked pretty sleepy to him.

When he told her, instead of thanking her, as the decent thing decent people do; she smacked him on the head. _"I was studying for Professor's test the next day! What do you expect? I stayed up the whole night for it."_

Besides Professor Git- oops I mean Gritish was an arrogant little idiot. So why would someone as amazing and kind as Lily even fall for him.

"Let me help you with that, my dear Lily." He smiled, so dazzlingly bright at Lily that James was tempted to ask him to shut his mouth or his magic teeth whitening spells might wear off. And why was that idiot calling her 'my dear Lily'? It was disgusting.

Professor Gritish was pulling out his wand and about to say another stupid spell that would probably backfire again (Like all his attempted spells). Lily's eyes were closed. James could barely hear Professor McGonagall telling James off. Her piercing words washed over James and frankly, he couldn't remember half of the things she said to him. All nonsense and useless telling off.

In that few seconds, James pulled out his wand and yelled out, "Expelliarmus!"


	4. Poor Potter

**Operation: Prank the Marauders**

**Poor Potter**

James Potter was always the unpredictable and egoistic prat. It didn't come as a surprise for Lily when he suddenly yelled Expelliarmus right then and there. Even if Professor Gritish's spells were never quite properly done.

But lesson number one, in the Guide to Surviving Marauders, always duck when anyone of the Marauders yells something. Even something stupid like, "I'm king of the world!"

You'll learn soon enough. Lily learned the hard way.

It's a funny story if you ask me. Though it ended in a peanut butter covered Great Hall with angry owls and students all yelling at her and James. Now that Lily thought about it, it was really quite funny. I might find the time to tell you one of these days.

Lily ducked and shielded her head with her hands. Professor Maggie was still yelling at James and the whole room exploded with black grime.

When Lily knew it was safe to look up she immediately turned to James. "Jesus, Potter! You couldn't have thought of something more intelligent to say? It's Expelli-arr-mus. Not Expelliar-moose!" Lily didn't even want to think of how long it would take to clean off every speck of dirt on the Great Hall.

James stood there grinning (yes, you know it) like a madman. "It's good practice, if you ask me." It was amazing how he was the only thing that wasn't covered with black dirt. The giant squid squirmed a bit more.

"Now, now Lily. Let's go outside and let Professor Maggie and Filch handle the octopus." Professor Gritish calmly took Lily by the shoulders and guided her out. "Umm Squid sir." Lily told him gently. "Gazzontite." He smiled to her. "No sir. He's a squid. Not an octopus." Lily smiled back.

"Ahh of course! I remember the time I battled the Great Squid terrorizing the ships around the Atlantic Ocean. It was quite horrific, you know." And professor began telling his 'heroic' tale to the poor love struck Lily. Who, in turn, listened to his words as if his word were the gospel.

James made a face and looked away, not wanting to see Lily looking so charmed. Instead he turned to face professor Maggie, who didn't look very pleasant. Even with dirt covering her face.

The next few hours was spent getting the Great Hall ready for the day. Lily didn't even lift a finger to help. After Professor Maggie teleported the Squid back to the lake, Lily went over to make sure he was all right. Oh? You thought it was James she was concerned about? Nope, it was the bloody squid.

James was left to mop up the big mess. Without magic.

It took him forever and he had Sirius behind his back snickering and doing everything to make his work even more and more unbearable.

Sirius was just going around, looking for something to eat. He was passing by the Great Hall when he heard muttering, very angry muttering.

"AH! There's my dear friend Prongsie!" He walked over to James, careful not to step on the slimy goo. "How did your date with the flower go?" He asked, leaning on the hunched back Potter. James gave him a look and Sirius backed off. "Now, now Prongsie! No need to give me that face." James sighed, he knew this was going to be a long day.

After barely managing to mop it all off, he stopped as soon as the other early birds (or should I say Wizards) arrived to jump start the day. He'd managed to piece together the four long tables and fix the teacher's table as well, after 6 very long and hard tries.

Now James was off wandering around looking for something interesting to do.

He decided to skip lessons today. It was no use, since he was already in detention. Plus he didn't want to sit in class with the thought of Lily's awestruck face stuck in his head.

"Potter!" James spun around, knowing that irritating and wonderful voice anywhere. "Hurry! You'll be late for detention!" Lily looked at him, that same look of disbelief that anyone would consider skipping classes was pasted over her face. All of James' worries and irritations disappeared instantly. He went over to Lily and smiled.

"So I see you're dressed for detention." He smiled at her. Looking at her newly cleaned robes. A slight blush found her way on her rosy cheeks. James detected a faint smell of perfume on her, which he found odd: Lily never wore perfume.

Lily blushed. "I had a little help." She looked away. "Hurry. Professor McGonagall wouldn't want us to be late." James grinned.

"Why this is new isn't it, Evans?" He walked beside her. "Oh? How so." She asked him, not stopping to talk. "You actually care about me." James smiled.

"Bloody hell." She yelled and sped faster. Leaving James behind in a trail of dust. That girl could run pretty fast when she wanted to.

James (this was a first) actually enjoyed detention. Usually whenever Professor McGonagall gave him detention with Padfoot and Wormtail, she'd give them extra work. But since Lily is a favorite of all teachers, she let them off easily. He still had triple detention for the Giant Squid incident and the exploding Expelliarmoose spell.

The things he's done and it was only 8 in the morning.

And to think, he actually had the guts to greet the Professor today. Well his guts were a tad bit happier with Lily standing beside him.

"Hey Evans. Do you mind telling me what your perfume is? It smells wonderful." He whispered to her, just as Professor McGonagall was giving instructions, or reprimanding them. Lily shot him another incredulous look, "No Potter! Listen to the Professor before I turn you into a toad." She whispered furiously.

She was so cute when she threatened him.

He let his mind wander off, about the things he could be asking Lily once they were alone, the things they could talk about together. Maybe she'd even agree to go out with him. All these floating in his head, just when Professor had to burst his bubble.

"Lily you will be helping Professor Slughorn with sorting his disastrous lab of potions." Lily nodded with a bit of excitement in her eyes. Lily rather liked Professor Slughorn. He was a good teacher and he thought very highly of Lily.

"You, Potter," She said her name as if it were a mold on her tuna belly sandwich. "will be working in the owlry cleaning off the bird droppings until lunchtime." Professor told him without a hint of sympathy in her tone.

James snapped up immediately. "You're joking!" He stood up. "I'm going to be scooping bird poop for 4 hours!" James yelled to her terrifying face. Professor McGonagall expression turned deadly in an instant.

"That or you'll be retrieving some items the from the bottom of the Black Lake." She glared at him, James could feel himself shrinking. "That means swimming in this weather."

James gave a defying look. "What weather?" He asked her. Professor drew the curtains to reveal a snow blizzard whipping outside. Lily swore she saw a snow monster moving around in the distance. It was November after all.

And by the time the sun was high up, James was covered with nauseating avian waste.

Also known as bloody bird poo.

The owlry was freezing by the time he got there. And it seemed that the whole snow storm stopped just as he was about finished. James couldn't believe his luck.

By then he's been having a pretty bad day. He passed by Slughorn's office to check on Lily when he realized that he looked like that.

Feathers and various mice parts (Owls are excellent hunters for mice) attached to him from head-to-toe. He even had to endure the torturing hoots of his own owl. It sounded like Evan was hooting and taunting him the whole time. Well he sure was giving him extra loads. He and his owl friends all ganged up on him and purposely pooped right on top of him. Bloody owl.

Plus, he wreaked like mad. (Owl poop was not the ideal perfume for men, trust me) Lily probably wouldn't want to see him like this. He was about to retreat when he heard a couple of idiotic Slytherins laughing in their idiotic way.

"Please…." A trembling voiced begged to the bullies. "Let me down….." A boy from James' house was hanging upside down. "I'm scared of heights!" He was crying with tears streaming down his face. But the five nasty bunch of snakes just cackled louder. There were 2 ugly buff looking girls and 2 boys jeering with them. And Booker. James' evil nemesis. (next to that Snape boy, of course)

Booker held his wand, evil purple streaks of light springing from it, hanging poor Horton (of the first year) by his ankle.

"Hey!" Before James could think properly, he stepped forward. "Let the kid down." He said with his most menacing glare. "Oh and how're you going to make me, Potter." Booker spat. "What's that a new outfit? Where'd you get it? Birds' poop dot com?" the other overweight moron asked. They all laughed.

James pulled out his was and shouted the same spell he used in the Great Hall disaster. "Expelliarmus!" Booker was sent flying to the opposite end of the hall.

James heard a loud thud as Horton fell down on his stomach and scrambled to get up on his feet.

Now it was on, all out war. James hit ugly boy number one with a tickling jinx and ducked as ugly girl number one sent a jelly legs jinx his way. James returned the favour with a "Densaugeo" curse which made ugly girl number 2's teeth grow at an alarming rate. She couldn't pronounce a proper spell.

James concentrated on another spell; it was the only thing he could do to stop him from laughing at ugly number 2. Booker was closing in his fists at the ready. _This guy is a wizard. Not a muggle, come on Booker._ James had to sigh which made Booker's face flush with anger.

Booker yelled "Grab 'im!"

The two buff ugly girls clutched him and tried to pin him down. James could feel air escaping his lungs. The Slytherins started cackling and the other bunch of students did nothing but watch in fear. One group of Ravenclaw girls nearby screamed, "Don't hit James!"

With the noise blocking his senses and his vision fading fast, Booker punched him square on the face. James felt like he could float up on the clouds. His round glasses miraculously stayed in tact. A gooey liquid ran down his nose. _Was that blood?_ He thought.

And in the midst of the noise, only one voice made sense to him. "Expelliarmus!"

Evans yelled. "Potter!" She pushed through the crowd who were making bets as to how long Potter would last before he passed out. Ugly girls number one and two were in the other end of the hallway, gripping their heads as if it were about to fall off. Ugly number two's teeth were still growing.

Somewhere nearby, James could hear Booker's cussing as he saw Professor McGonagall approaching behind Lily Evans. Ugly boy number two was knocked unconscious and Ugly boy number one was still doubling over with laughter as if he found the whole situation sickeningly funny. James staggered to stay on his feet but a pair of warm hands gently supported his arms.

"Evans. A pleasure to see you again." James smiled, he couldn't help himself.

Evans stood there with a strange mixture of fear, admiration and that same irritated look on her face. "Come 'ere." She James' arm around her shoulder and led him to the hospital wing, leaving a very confused crowd to watch them silently move along.

James was feeling light-headed. _She's here. Oh god she's here. Do I look okay?_ He repeated over and over in his mind. He was feeling so blissful he couldn't hear the taunts and jeers of the Slytherins he left behind. He couldn't even hear Professor McGonagall yelling 50 house points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor.

He could hear her reprimanding voice going on and on sentencing Booker and his bully friends to detention. James had to smile at that one.

But as far as he was concerned, Lily Evans was the only thing that mattered now.

* * *

Lily wondered what all the commotion was about. She hurried out of the professor's lab and saw poor little Horton running past her with a bloody nose. Lily moaned inside her head. She had a bad feeling as to who was behind this.

Before that she was having a pleasant day (Right after the Great hall disaster). She had tea with Professor Slughorn. Though the two barely got any work done.

He was about to discuss a new potion the Wizards' Circle ('an elite team of nerd wizards', in Potter's book) had recently discovered; when she heard her stomach growling. Professor didn't want to keep her. So he dismissed her earlier.

By the corridor she was greeted by Professor McGonagall who looked so distressed she wondered if the Professor got any sleep at all last night. "Oh Evans, hurry along now! And may you please escort Mr. Horton to the hospital wing, he has a bit of a bloody nose. Now I need to stop that Potter from doing something stupid again." She said the last part to herself with a tired sigh.

Lily stood there dumbstruck thinking _Oh Professor, you have no idea._

Up until then, she was certain she could dismiss this morning's events as nothing more than a bad dream. Now she was wondering what on earth Potter was doing.

She wasn't worried or anything. No. Not at all. What did she care what that idiot Potter was doing. She was just concerned on how many more house points he was going to cost them.

Lily heard them first. Everyone was cheering loudly and edging Booker and (Surprise, surprise) Potter, to fight. She pushed through and saw the fight going on.

Five-on-one hardly seemed fair. She stopped them.

"Potter!" She froze there, deciding what to do next. Lily didn't even hear the arrogant tone of James' voice. "Evans. A pleasure to see you again." She just dragged the bloody (I mean it literally) Potter through the parting crowd and hurried off to the hospital wing.

_Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?_ She thought for the umpteenth time this day.

**Author's Note**

**Thanks for reading :) Don't forget to review!**


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